This Jungian Life

The king is figured prominently in myth, religion, and fairy tale. This compelling archetypal image has roots in our earliest human beginnings, when the king embodied his tribe’s earthly vitality and supra-human connection to spirit. Today, the king symbolizes universal psychic functions; each of us has an internal ruler. Like Solomon, the king presides over standards of ordering and lawgiving that undergird processes of discernment and decision. As warrior, the king protects and defends the kingdom of selfhood he has built; he has access to aggression and takes responsibility for the consequences of his actions. The masculine principle is also a symbol of the fertilizing presence that creates new psychic life and fuels libido for growth. And the king has the power to confer blessings. Like King Arthur, he provides all aspects of internal life with a seat at the round table of consciousness—and wholeness.  Here's the dream we analyze: "I'm in a beautiful old building, it looks to be a library with large windo